1. How would a nakkie view one?2. How would a Red Stormer view a nakkie?3. How would a Luir's Outposter view a Red Stormer?4. How would a Red Stormer view a Luir's Outposter?5. How would a Tuluki view a Red Stormer?6. How would a Red Stormer view a Tuluki?

I have a few opinions on these but I thought I'd ask to find out

1. I see nakkies viewing Red Stormers as trustworthy people, if to be wary around at first. After all, Red Storm WAS created by rebels and they are spice heads and thieves do hide there. But the city gets good income from them so the Templarate would be harsh on anyone deliberately targetting a non-elf Red Stormer for no reason BUT they're a Red Stormer.

2. I see Red Stormer's as being wary around nakkies but otherwise not really caring about them. I think enough time has passed since the rebels created Red Storm for animosity to fade. But I'd see Stormers seeing Nobles as being pretty harsh and living conditions not being as desireable as in Red Storm. But then again if your broke you'll do just about anything for sid, right?

5. I see Tuluki's as not knowing all that much about Red Storm and seeing Stormer's as being partiers (what with all that spice) and happy go lucky people who live in the harsh desert but a hardy people as they live on the shores of the Silt Sea where hidious beasts roam.

6. I see Stormer's not knowing all that much about Tuluk and seeing it as an exotic place where the poorest are rich and no-one goes without food or water or shade.

What does everyone else think?

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Red Storm is a placed full of criminals, spice hunters, bounty hunters, raiders, and all manner of unsavory people. Red Storm is shady and rough. Anyone who can’t make it in Allanak because of the law or some noble house goes to Red Storm. Red Storm is almost like a lawful ‘rinth sitting out in the desert. In the village you need to keep to yourself, but once you leave you can do whatever you damned well please so long as it doesn’t disrupt the spice hunters or threaten the village.

Picture one of the dustiest, stormiest, harshest places on the farthest edge of civilization. Now fill that place with bounty hunters, spice heads, spice hunters, raiders, unsavory mercenaries that make the Byn look clean cut, thieves, harsh desert elves, harsher gith, seedy muls, escaped slaves, and more criminals then you can shake a stick at if you actually had the luxury of wood, which in Red Storm you don’t.

I personally have always viewed Stomers as staunch individualist. I see them as very self centered people who in general don’t give a damn about the world unless it is offering them a quick few ‘sid. I see them as brutal and harsh people with few social graces. They have just enough social grace to get by living in a pirates den, which is to say they are likely to chop you in half if you piss them off. While they might not have much in the way of social grace, I do think that Red Stormers would be very good at keeping to themselves when they need to. A Red Stormer in my mind would probably make a very trustworthy ally. He doesn’t engage too much in gossip and he knows how to shut up and blend in. He might be a loud and boisterous drunk, but put him in front of someone important or speak of something that demands secrecy and he knows how to shut up.

Ironically enough, I think that Stormers might be the most morally enlightened people in the world. They don’t allow slavery, and I imagine that they would see it is a violation of someone’s individualism. That isn’t that they would see it is a violation of a ‘right’, just something more of a violation of the unspoken values of strength and individualism that Stormers tend to hold. That also isn’t to say that they are abolitionist or that they care enough to do anything. Stormers are staunch individualist, and a staunch individualist doesn’t give a damn about someone else’s misery, they just are able to recognize it, something your average Allanaki probably can’t do. A Stormer, unlike most people, might feel a twinge of disgust when they encounter slavery. It might be that they don’t even feel that disgust towards the slaver, but instead feel it towards the slave that is too weak to escape his bonds and be a strong individual.

I imagine that when a Red Stormer looks at Allanaki or Tuluki nobility they probably see them pretty close what a modern man would see them as. Rich, fat, slobs who deserve to have their throats slit open. That isn’t to say they would do anything stupid, as a Red Stormer of all people would know what a syndicate boss looks like and be sure to avoid them, or in the very least be respectful towards them for the sake of keeping their head attached. However, unlike a Northerner who would likely feel the instinct to believe that even a southern noble is their superior, I think a Red Stormer would never see a noble as anything more then just a rich guy. A southerner might grovel before a noble thinking how superior and great the noble is, and how unworthy they are. A Stormer might grovel before a noble, but the whole while be imagining how nice it would be to run his knife from ear to ear on the bastard.

I think that most Stormers would hate Allanak. If they don’t hate it for a very specific reason, like they are a run away slave, criminal, or somehow in trouble with Allanak, then I think they would just hate Allanak on principle. The idea of nobility probably is revolting to a Stormer, the city is too damned big, there are too many weak people, and they probably have all heard stories from those who used to live there how shitty the place is. For a stormer, I image they would likely view the North as worse then the South. That isn’t to say they would hate the North per say. I think they would just find them weak and pathetic. They probably would think very little of northern art and culture and consider it frivolous. They would see them as spoiled and soft living in a place that is unduly kind to them. You need to remember that as far as civilized places go, Red Storm is about as bad as it gets. A Stormer would probably wander around the North with a smug smirk on his face the entire time, marveling at how people could live such opulent and easy lives.

As to the rest of the world, I imagine that most people would view someone from Red Stormer as a criminal or thug. They would look at someone from Red Storm as if they declared that they grew up in a pirates den, and that perception would probably have a lot of truth to it. Red Storm would almost surely have a reputation from Allanaki folk as being the criminal playground that it is. Tales of gith, muls, and desert elves wandering the street in great abundance would that would float around would likely have a lot more truth to it then most rumors Allanaki tend to pass around. The fact that a Stomer would likely have very few social graces would reinforce an Allanaki’s perception that a Stormer is just a nasty thug who would feel at home in the worst part of the ‘rinth. I think all Stormers would at best be viewed as unsavory mercenaries, and at worst as criminals.

I think as you go North people would start to view Stormers as simply being ‘nakkies. I don’t think that the average Northerner would be able to pick out the difference between a ‘nakkie and a stormer, or even care about the difference if they could. A savage southerner is a savage southerner. A well educated Northerner might recognize a Stormer as something different from a ‘nakkie, but to a northerner, a Stormer embodies all the bad morals of Allanak, and then some. Only the fact that Stormers were not doing the invading of the North puts him above a ‘nakkie.

I believe the only place where a Stormer and an outsider would feel at least a little mutual respect (or at least not loathing) would be in Luir’s. Kuraci are a tough crowd and Kurac defines Luir’s Outpost. Without getting too much into Luir’s social order that might be considered IC, a Luir’s resident doesn’t view the local nobility equivalent like the way the cities view nobility. It is ok in Luir’s to dislike nobility that are incompetent. Luir’s folks hold a lot of the values that a Stormer might hold. Luir’s folks are not as extreme as a Stormer, but I think the two are close enough where they could at least have an understanding or even mutual respect for one another. They still might be on guard with each other, but it would be the kind of guard you would show a worthy adversary whom you respect as an equal.

My understanding of Red Storm is that while it may be, at times, a host to criminals and unsavory types, these people are merely in transit, because few can withstand the harsh workload living there generally demands. The mass of Red Storm, the average citizen (not including the criminals who come there to lay low from where ever they call home), is a hard working, keeps-to-themself kind of person.

I don't think most Red Storm residents have the time to think about places as remote as Tuluk. Some likely view Allanak with contempt, if only because their primary resource, spice, is banned from the city-state. It's likely Luir's Outpost and Red Storm share somewhat of a kinship with one another, House Kurac being the only remotely active merchant family therein (though the other merchant houses do hawk there wares in RS).

I don't think Tuluk would necessarily have good sentiments towards Red Storm, though it's certainly possible. Some Tulukis hatred of the south expands beyond Allanak's walls, encompassing all of the Vrun Driath -- including Red Storm, nevermind the fact that spice comes from that region. I imagine the typical commoner of Allanak has little time to entertain fantasies, or even base thoughts on Red Storm, though perhaps a little intrigue might arise if ever they were to meet someone from there (or fear of being associated with someone who harvests spice).

While I certaintly can't speak for EVERYONE in Tuluk, my particular Tuluki commoner more or less views Red Storm as "Just another pack of Southerners". Kinda like IRL when I tell people I'm from New York and they ask me how traffic is in Manhattan, and I then need to remind them that I live almost 300 miles from Manhattan, but yes, I'm still in New York state. Guilt by geographical association. (And yes, I've ICly met someone from Red Storm who was quite upset that I lumped him in with the 'naki) :twisted:

I don't think the dislike for Allanak would be as strong as some people have suggested. Allanak is the major market for Red Storm's two main exports: spice and wheat. The fact that spice is illegal in Allanak just drives up the price.

Red Storm is a two-part town, the only multi-town empire in the known world now days. Go Sandlord! Red Storm East is far away, but there is plenty of traffic between the two. It isn't entirly clear what is going on because you can't talk to anyone, but it seems that most of the silt skimmers work out of RSE, and there is also a large farming community. Most people living in Red Storm would know something about RSE even if they don't go there, because of all the traffic. There are mills in Red Storm, and since not much would grow there I assume they are for milling the grains from Red Storm East, which are then sold to Allanak. The Sandlord is probably the biggest employer in Red Storm and Red Storm East, and much of his money comes from trade with Allanak.

Red Storm's anti-slaving stance may be more pragmatic than altruistic. There are not many places in the known world where escaped slaves, particularily muls, can go to for long, resonably secure lives. So there is a steady trickle of escaped muls (and other slaves) that are at least partially trained and willing to work cheap in return for a safe place to live and a little respect. All the benefits of having muls without the expense and difficulty of training them. Likewise they get the benefits of gith trading and working in Red Storm, because there aren't many places where gith can go to trade or get a job. All that is required in return is that they don't get caught eating the locals.

I doubt the average stormer loves the Kuraci though. From what can be observed in public, it seems like most of the spice harvesters (the ones risking getting eatten by beetles and silt horrors) are independants. The Kuraci have a near monopoly on sales and distribution, so most harvesters have little choice to sell to Kurac at whatever price Kurac offers. A damn hard way to make a living if the local agent doesn't pay well. You can try to smuggle it into Allanak yourself or take it up north, but that has it's own dangers, not the least of which is going to be pressure from the Kuraci if an independant distributer becomes too successful. I don't think the average Stormer is going to have much affection for any of the big merchant houses. In Red storm all the major houses massively over-charge for merchandise they sell, and then pay almost nothing when they buy. You know when you're being screwed.

For the most part, I don't think stormers give a damn one way or the other about other cities and populations. The have a steady stream of escaped slaves, fugitives, exiled tribals, and other ne'er-do-wells comming into thier town. This isn't going to give them a good opinion of any city, since most of the people they see from other cities are desperate, unstable or criminals. On the other hand, a portion of those people settle and become productive citizens, showing that there are good and bad people everywhere. Stormers are probably not as shocked by all the magickers in Allanak, all the mutants in Tuluk or all the assholes in Luir's as other people would be. Once you've sat at a bar drinking spiced ale with a gith on one side and an escaped mul on the other, chatting about your latest escape from a silt horror, it probably takes a lot to shock you.

It's like a frontier town with a really good sheriff. Mind your own buisness, don't get caught causing trouble, and nobody gives a damn what you do. Get caught causing trouble, you'll wind up dead and still nobody gives a damn about you.

Angela Christine

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Treat the other man's faith gently; it is all he has to believe with." Henry S. Haskins